Here’s the deal; set your alarm for 3:oo am (EST) this morning if you’d like to witness the “Blood Moon” that’s going to occur.

They say North America will have a front row seat so time your alarms accordingly.

“The phenomenon in which the moon is completely covered by the earth’s umbral shadow for four eclipses in a row, as opposed to only partial eclipses that fall in the outer penumbra. But rather than succumbing to complete darkness, the moon will glow red as it receives the refracted light that spills over the Earth’s circumference.” (NBC news)

I do believe I witnessed a “Blood Moon” a couple of years ago in Sun Valley, where one can view celestial shenanigans like nobody’s business. The night skies of Idaho are a stargazer’s dream.

Actually, Santa Barbara is not too shabby in that department either, especially here in Montecito where there are no street lights and night landscape lighting is frowned upon. 🙁

This is the one I saw in Sun Valley. Not a great shot as I took it with my very old iPhone but you get the idea. It was so cool! I kept trying to get everyone to come out and look at it, but no one was biting. I think there was a good movie on or perhaps a heated ping-pong game.

Plus I had to run back in before I got eaten by a bear.

Speaking of eating…(how’s that for a segue?) it’s also Blood Orange Season.

Our trees are producing abundantly this year so we’ve been getting pretty creative with these babies.

Fresh Blood Orange juice by itself, though gorgeous to look at, is much too tart for my liking.

It’s better mixed with regular orange juice or another fruit juice that will give it some natural sweetness. Or vodka.

Or gin.

Tequila in a pinch.

I’ve also been squeezing the juice of just one or two blood oranges into my carafe of water every day. It makes me feel like I’m at a spa. I add a splash of Jack Rudy Small Batch Tonic Water-it’s delicious and makes the water swirl like antique glass.

I think I mentioned slicing and drying the blood oranges in the dehydrater relatively recently…or was that on Instagram? Do you follow me on Instagram?? It’s fun!

They’re quite good and no doubt super good for you, but now we’ve discovered that they’re even waaaay better with the rinds cut off. Just little sweet & sour explosions of chewy flavour.

48 Comments

My alarm is on as well. Hope we will be able to see it here in LA although standing on my deck I have a pretty unobstructed view of the sky. I can see it clearly now so … ??? I don’t know what white frothy delight is in those bottles a few pics up .. but I want one !! xoL

Hi Slim. Like you I have also seen the blood moon . We were flying out of Fiji and the pilot told us to look out the left side window . What a sight ! It seemed to fill the sky. The pilot was fairly animated (a rare thing in a pilot).A wonderful memory. We here in New Zealand will get to see this wondrous sight too.Thanks for the post x x

Ooohhhhhh…….I’m in Paris….did I already miss it!? …and we walked home along the Seine last night from the greatest little restaurant, La Pirouette …….darn….well, I mean not exactly darn….cuz how bad is that!? But a blood red moon would have been orgasmic…can you use that word in a public blog? Oh well, I guess you’ll bleep it if necessary…..

Last night there was a big beautiful full moon – but apparently we in Europe will miss the blood moon because its daytime here when it occurs. I think I’ll go get some blood oranges to make up for it 🙂

That means it’s right about now!!
I’m heading outside to see if I can snap a picture of it. Your photo looks pretty cool for an old iphone snap.
I love the idea of blood oranges and think they have a pretty cool name, but can’t seem to like the taste. Perhaps it needs the Vodka. Worth a try. Enjoy your week.
And of course I am an Instagram maniac. Love it. It’s sort of like mini blogging. Faster with less words.

The weather forecaster here in Sydney, Australia has just told us about the blood mood happening in our skies tonight.
Unfortunately it’s pouring with rain at the moment and visibility is poor. I guess I will have to wait for the next one which is scheduled to occur some time in October.
My thanks to you for a great blog. It’s very Australian the way you find the humor in your life.
Tanya

Dear SP,
How in the world do we don’t know each other? I live in Paris now but for the past 12 years or so I have lived in Montecito! How have we never crossed paths? We have the same interests and love of design, fashion and travel! I love love love your blog! Those blood oranges today made me miss Santa Barbara.
Warmly,
Eleanorhttp://www.havesomedecorum.blogspot.com

Alas, no blood moon for me either but I did get something out of the event – in the middle of reading this post, I got up, went and searched out my ancient iphone 3 (3!) and signed up to follow you on instagram. 🙂 I just started about a month ago and as achey complainy I can be about social media, I love it.
PS. Only you would go blood moon=blood oranges=dave chihuly=chicken. Just saying…

Ohhhhhhhh……. 🙁 Sorry Slim, but I am an early riser, I just HAD to go to bed before midnight! I am glad that you enjoyed it, thought. I like blood oranges myself. The best place to get them is at a health food store.

We here in Chicago actually had snow yesterday afternoon, almost 2 inches in our neck of the woods and thick clouds.
But at 3:14AM we got up to see the eclipse and it was clear and so beautiful! We saw exactly what your amazing
last photo shows, I like that you included a bit more of the surrounding scenery. Kudos to you for a great science post from a scientist.

Slim,
I read about the blood moon and wanted to stay up for it, but alas, sleep won the argument I had with myself and I missed it. I was happy to see your post this morning with a few pretty pics of the blood moon and related blood oranges. 🙂
Karen

Did you really take the post script shot? That’s amazing! I didn’t set the alarm, but it sounds like it was a great show for all who did. I saw that moon a few years back as well, I think your shots are better than mine. Your blood orange crop is gorgeous, lucky you, love the dried slices. I need to get my instagram groove on.. will start following you for inspiration.

Observed the blood moon from here, in The Siskiyous, in Far Northern California. Watched from my south facing bedroom, as the the shadow of the moon progressed into a stunning sight. Awesome. I wonder how the ancient ones, the ancestors saw this phenomenon, without the benefit of science to explain? I felt small in a good way, juxtaposed against the big cosmic dance! And, I am trying the chicken recipe…thank you xo

I’ve seen a few of these colorful moons since moving to California from London (no chance there with the overcast skies!). It is a sight to behold but, unfortunately, I was fast asleep last night when the show was on.

I love blood oranges as much as you it seems (my hubby makes terrific marmalade with them yearly). Sadly, I’ve come to the conclusion that the climate around San Francisco must be too cold for the trees to thrive. I just bludgeoned to death our Moro blood orange tree after 15 years of not producing a single fruit and then finally having become sooty and diseased. Sad, really sad.

I missed it and I’m so sorry I did. I even remember a news snippet about it on the CBS evening news last night, and I still forgot, but living in the San Francisco bay area, close enough to the fog belt, you never know what you can or can’t see in the night sky. Thanks for the lovely post, Slim. Inspirational as always!

I set my alarm here in the Northeast but too much cloud coverage 🙁 Slim, your posts are so much fun and so creative. How you segued from Blood Moon to Blood Oranges to that Dale Chihuly photo amazes me. Then remembering you had the photo and being able to find it to include in post. You must have some awesome organizing system for your photos. Another great post Slim!

Thanks Carol but no, I do NOT have an awesome organising system for my photos.
OMG-if you only knew just how much I DON’T have that it would curl your toes. It’s on my list of things to accomplish. I literally have 10’s of thousands of photos (many, many duplicates) scattered on several different devices-an organised person’s total nightmare.
I just have sort of an idiot savant retrieval system in my head. “I SEE things…” as they say in the movies! 🙂

The next red moon lunar eclipse is on October 8th. Two more next year…..to complete what is called a tetrad; four red moons. Very rare. Do some research on the significance of these tetrads thru history. You will be surprised.

Oh! Loving this post! I’ve been all about studying the Blood Moon thing! I’m dying to know how your chicken turned out as well! We’ve been devouring this Blood Orange Infused Olive oil with Balsamic Vinegar the past few nights! YUM! We have a new shop around the corner from mine that sells nothing but fabulous balsamics and vinegars! So fun! Anyway, loved this post!

I saw it and it was beyond incredible, have no words for it, yet I have never experienced the moon in all it’s dimensions, when I see it every night it looks like a disc to me…… but this one I saw this orange ball back lit with bright white light and for the first time I experienced it as dimensional ball. I love your post about blood oranges, fit so well the topic of Orange Moon, and I love, love blood oranges.

I got to see the red moon. I have a fairly nice iPhone but not a real camera. Your shots really came out nice. I was glad I didn’t have to set an alarm to see it. I’m not a get up a 3 am type. Beautiful post, as always.

Thank you ~ because of your blog posting, that arrived that night, I was in Santa Barbara and stayed up to view. At first, the eclipse began, then the moon was darkened by the earth’s shadow and I thought “Ok . . now what” . . and then the moon began turning orange and was magnificent! I sat outside experiencing this brilliance and beauty. I am still trying to find the words to describe, it was euphoric, “in tune” really magical! Thanks to your blog, and notice, I was able to experience the beautiful blood moon. Thank you! ~ jeni

Well, of course Reggie was late to the party, and has just learned of the blood red moon from reading about it here! I am mad for blood oranges, and eat them whenever I can, first having discovered them as a teenager in an street market in front of the Pantheon in Rome. I’ll never forget that!! Once again, m’dear, you have done a post that is a delight to read, and an even greater delight to the eye. I do so love where you take us on a ride in your marvelous, visually superb mind. Thank you. Reggie